Posted: 4/13/06

Global warming poses ‘severe’ threat

By Marv Knox

Editor

SAN ANTONIO—With the planet warming faster than it has in 10,000 years, “global warming is the most severe, important issue facing humankind,” environmentalist Karl Rábago insisted.

Rábago, director of the Houston Advanced Research Center’s clean and renewable energy group, challenged participants in the Texas Baptist Chris-tian Life Commis-sion’s annual conference to take steps to alleviate the problem.

“We have every tool and technology we need to address all these (environmental) problems,” Rábago stressed. “We made this problem in little steps. We can get out with little steps.”

The problem hinges on one factor, he said: “It’s the stuff we burn.” Global consumption of oil, gas and coal is pumping unprecedented amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment. It has the net effect of trapping heat and raising temperatures all over the world.

“The trend is ominous,” Rábago said. He cited the retreat of glaciers, shrinking polar ice caps, farmlands and forests devastated by drought in some locales and ravaging floods in others, deaths due to extreme heat, and unprecedented numbers of Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes.

Wasteful consumption, combined with the fuel necessary to produce commodities, is a vexing problem, he said, noting, “Of all material mobilized into our economy for our benefit, 94 percent is thrown away within six months. … The U.S. rate of consumption has doubled in 25 years. We have 7 percent of the world’s (land) mass, but we use 33 percent of the resources.”

The key to the solution is sustainability, he claimed: “It’s living and working as if you really believe in a tomorrow. It’s meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to survive as well.”

From a practical standpoint, that means adopting a systems perspective, recognizing that, in nature, everything is connected to everything else, Rábago said, noting incremental positive steps can achieve incremental improvements.

Among the “small steps” Rábago advocated are:

• Construction of “green buildings” that require less power to heat, cool and light.

• Increased use of renewable fuels, such as wind power and solar power.

• Spread of electrification a-round the globe, so that families in developing na-tions require fewer children to sustain the parents.

• Recycling. Christians must accept their responsibility in preserving the planet, Rábago said. “If you’re given a precious gift, what’s the right thing to do? … This is our planet; it’s the only one we have.”

Posted: 4/13/06

2nd Opinion:
Biblical Gospels repudiate Judas

By David Garland

I am fully convinced the manuscript of the so-called Gospel of Judas is authentic, but so what? Sensationalized blurbs breathlessly trying to pump sales of new books about this manuscript tease the potential buyer: “If Judas had not betrayed Jesus, Jesus would not have been handed over to the authorities, crucified, buried and raised from the dead. Could it be that without Judas, the Easter miracle would never have happened?” Such questions are poppycock.

Before addressing the question that is most often asked, “Why did Judas betray Jesus?” we need to ask, “What did Judas betray?

According to John 11:57, the priestly hierarchy, threatened by Jesus’ popularity and attacks on the status quo, put out an APB: “If any one knew where Jesus was, he should let them know so that they could arrest him.” Jesus showed up in Jerusalem with great fanfare and held court in the temple, much to the dismay of the authorities. Their overt hostility may explain the cloak-and-dagger flavor of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples regarding the preparations for the Last Supper—“Find a man carrying a jar of water and follow him” (Mark 14:13). Jesus took precautions, and Judas, the treasurer of this outfit, was not allowed to make the preparations for the celebration, which would have seemed to have been part of his function. Therefore, he did not know where Jesus would meet with his disciples in Jerusalem for what would be their last meal. He did know the place of their gathering after the supper. That week, Jesus had gone each night to the same place (Luke 22:39).

The priestly hierarchy feared arresting Jesus in the midst of the throng of pilgrims who filled Jerusalem during Passover lest it spark a riot, and they resolved to arrest him by stealth (Mark 14:1-2). Judas solved their crowd-control problems by letting them know when and where they could seize him without causing a commotion. Judas led the posse to the spot, and this nighttime arrest circumvented a public outcry. Had Judas not cooperated, the leaders still could have nabbed Jesus any time during the day when he openly taught in the temple. It would have been messier, perhaps, but they did not really need Judas to get the job done.

How could Judas be viewed as a hero? The ancient Gnostic Gospels uncovered in Egypt (and there are many) are the second century antithesis of the novel The Da Vinci Code and just as historically unreliable. As The Da Vinci Code wants to make Jesus more human and have offspring from a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene, the Gnostic writings from this era wanted to divorce Jesus from the fleshly sphere. Gnostics believed that an eternal spirit was trapped within this earthbound, mortal body. The Gospel of Judas fits this outlook. The figure of Judas can become an exemplary character, because he helps engineer Jesus’ death that allows him to escape the flesh and become true spirit.

Why were such works rejected in the church? The more one is hostile to anything related to matter, the less one is inclined to have anything to do with the belief and confession that God became a man. The more redemption is transferred to the region of knowledge, the less significant is the redemptive work of Christ in his death and resurrection. The more redemption is related to the purely spiritual realm, the less one is concerned about ethics, what one does in the body. The more saving knowledge is expected as a personal illumination from God, the less sympathy one has for revelation that came only once in the Son of God becoming human and in the historic testimony of his apostles.

The assumption was that my personal revelation is better than that accepted by the majority of Christian circles. The suppression of such works by other Christians was not some nefarious plot to squelch the truth but an attempt to preserve the truth.

Why did Judas betray Jesus?

The Gospel of Mark gives us no reason. Mark only emphasizes the shock and shame that he was one of the Twelve. The impact is subtle: If one of the Twelve could do something like this for whatever reason, then any of us might fall by the wayside for all the multiple reasons tugging at our souls.

According to Matthew, greed was the chief motive. Judas is the first to raise the issue of money with the chief priests: “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15). They offer 30 pieces of silver, a paltry sum that contrasts sharply with the fortune in perfumed ointment that an anonymous woman poured out on Jesus as a token of her love and worship.

Luke tells us that Satan entered Judas (Luke 22:33). How else to explain it? Satan, Luke tells us, wanted to sift Peter, and he wound up denying his Lord three times. Judas apparently was sifted as well and succumbed in an even worse way.

The Gospel of John gives us both reasons. Satan entered him (John 13:2, 27), and he was a thief and money grubber (John 12:6).

Dostoevsky writes in The Idiot: “The causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex than are our subsequent explanations of them, and can rarely be distinctly discerned.” I suspect, however, that most explanations that seek to go beyond what is given in the Gospels are motivated by a human desire to get Judas (along with Pilate and everyone else in the story) off the hook. If we can get Judas off the hook, then we can get ourselves off the hook as well. No one is responsible for Christ’s death—leaving only God to take the blame.

That is not the perspective of the canonical gospels.

David Garland is associate dean for academic affairs and the William M. Hinson Professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco.

Posted: 4/13/06

DOWN HOME:
Season of hope, grass & pin oaks

The next couple of weeks should tell the tale: Will my yard look more like an oasis or a desert?

You should be grateful the first man was named “Adam” and not “Marv.” Otherwise, in addition to Original Sin, all of humanity would have been stricken with Original Brown Thumb.

Many times, as I’ve sweated in the various yards surrounding the various homes where my family has lived, I’ve thought about Adam’s curse. He would make his living by the sweat of his brow, and he would struggle to make things grow. I’ve got the sweating part down, and as far as making things grow, well that’s a struggle.

Take my Pampas grass, please. I love the look of the stuff in my backyard flower beds. Some of them grow up to six feet high, and they’ve got these lovely filigreed “blooms” or whatever you call them, that seem to float in the summer breeze. And I can’t seem to keep them growing for more than a couple of years, no matter how I water or fertilize or weed around them. One of the newest ones—let’s call him “Runt”—seems to be withering in only his second spring.

Last winter, the combination of drought and a hard December freeze took a toll on other blooming shrubs in our yard. So, a few weeks ago, I decided to trim out all the dead branches and give a new lease on life to these sometimes-lovely plants. Now, it looks like we’ve got Charlie Brown Christmas trees beneath my wax myrtles.

Also, during the winter, I pruned the pin oak tree whose impenetrable shade had been killing the bermuda grass in my front yard. Lately, it’s been looking puny, and I’m wondering if it’s going to take its revenge by up and dying.

Meanwhile the grass appears to be in shock, unaccustomed, as it is, to sunlight. It’s thinner than it’s been in 10 years—sorta reminds me of the top of my head—even though I water it diligently and treat it to nutrients. If I thought it would do any good, I’d wave a new Pampas grass plant over it, saying, “See, you can grow up to be thick and tall (at least before I make you sick and you die).”

Fortunately, this is spring, and spring is a season of hope. It’s the time when plants begin growing again and both the Astros and Rangers have a chance (mathematically, at least) of playing in the World Series. Not coincidentally, we celebrate Easter during spring.

This past Sunday, we rejoiced in an empty grave. On a Friday, Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world—your sins and mine. He succumbed to their crushing weight, died and was buried. But on Easter Sunday, he defeated death caused by sin, stepped out of that tomb, and offered every person permanent hope. We, who deserved his death, which we would not have escaped, now may accept his gift of life and anticipate spending eternity with him. Wherever that is, it will be heaven.

And even though my miserable attempts at gardening remind me that, like Adam, I have fallen, I can live in hope.

—Marv Knox

Posted: 4/13/06

EDITORIAL:
Two steps to change Texas for better

We have seen the future, and it is brown.

State Demographer Steve Murdock recently consulted Baptist General Convention of Texas institutional presidents. He sketched a paint-by-the-numbers portrait of Texas Today and Texas Tomorrow. Not too long ago, our state achieved a nonmajority culture; Anglos now comprise less than 50 percent of the population, and no ethnic group holds a majority. Eventually, however, Hispanics will become the majority. With the pace of Hispanic growth rapid but uneven, statisticians such as Murdock can’t predict exactly when that moment will occur, but they seem to keep moving the date nearer and nearer.

Even as Murdock spoke to Texas Baptist leaders about our population shift, Congress debated federal laws that regulate immigration, a key force driving demographic change. We’ve discussed immigration reform in this space before. Frankly, Texas Baptists—like the rest of the country—don’t agree on this vital issue. But we can pray for consensus on at least two points: People of faith, particularly working through their churches, never should face prosecution for ministering to hurting and needy people, even illegal immigrants. And shame on us if we continue to allow people to die in the backs of tractor-trailers.

For now, let’s turn our attention to key questions the BGCT leaders pondered with Murdock: What can we as Christians do to improve the living conditions of Texas’ burgeoning Hispanic population? And what can we do to improve the quality of life in Texas for the coming generations? The most pervasive and powerful answer to both questions is simple to say and difficult to do: Educate Hispanic children and young people.

Survey after survey states the same message: More than any other factor, education impacts an individual’s—and family’s—economic future. In Texas today, 60 percent of Hispanic students drop out before graduating from high school. That pace is 20 points worse than the national average. Of course, this overwhelming human need is a major moral concern that deserves the attention and effort of compassionate Christians throughout the state. And if you’re tempted to think this is not your problem, that it is an isolated challenge for our Hispanic community, consider this: Without a trained workforce (and remember, Hispanics as the majority will be the dominant pool of that workforce), Texas will fail to attract business and industry. So, unless we educate the coming generations of Hispanic Texans, our state will become an economic backwater, and all our children and grandchildren, no matter their race or ethnicity, will suffer the consequences.

The BGCT already has created the Hispanic Education Task Force to develop solutions to this enormous challenge. Please place this group on your prayer list, asking God to give the members creativity, compassion and courage. As they work, here are two steps they need to consider and challenges Texas Baptists should embrace:

• Let’s lower the Hispanic dropout rate by at least 2 percentage points a year for at least 10 years.

Albert Reyes, president of the Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, acknowledged that while we can’t reach every Hispanic student in the state, we can reach all who attend our 1,200 Hispanic Baptist churches. “What if we declared, ‘We refuse to let our students drop out of school’?” Reyes asked. Think of the impact on those students and their families, an impact that will last for generations. And think of the impact on our churches and their communities if they become known as the churches that love children so much they sacrifice to ensure those children’s futures.

Of course, the Hispanic churches can’t do this by themselves, nor should they. Every Hispanic congregation should be paired with at least two other Texas Baptist churches who provide trained volunteers, who would tutor students, teach English as a Second Language to their parents, and mentor parents and children alike about the value of education and how to navigate the Texas educational system.

• Let’s put serious money into making an education at our nine BGCT universities accessible to Hispanic young people.

With the possible exception of church-starting, it’s hard to imagine an initiative that would impact our state more profoundly than ensuring Christ-centered higher education for a rising generation of Hispanic Baptists. Their leadership will strengthen their families, their churches (including many that now are Anglo) and our state.

The dividends of both initiatives will pay off immediately and last until Christ returns.

—Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 4/13/06

Casinos not the solution for school financing

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Texas legislators looking for revenue to fund public schools better not bet on casinos, the director of an Austin-based think tank told the Texans Against Gambling board of directors.

Casino-style gambling at racetracks and video slot machines generates only two cents on the dollar for the state, as opposed to the lottery’s 28 cents per dollar for public education, said Rob Kohler of Common Sense & Sound Public Policy.

To generate the $1.016 billion the lottery produced for public education in 2005 with its $3.662 billion in sales, casino-style gambling would have to generate more than $48 billion, he asserted.

“At a 93 percent prize payout, casino-style gambling and video lottery terminals require more than 13 times the annual sales of the lottery to generate the same amount of revenue to the state,” Kohler said.

But while some lottery promoters might tout those statistics as justification for the state-run numbers game, they fail to consider social costs, he noted. In the Houston area, he pointed out, lottery sales were highest in some of the legislatives districts where per capita income and educational levels were lowest.

Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Tim Gallagher sees illegal gambling as comparable to pornography—both “traditional sources of income for organized crime,” he said.

“I don’t think we need to profit from human weakness,” he said.

But Texas statutes regulating 8-liners—a type of video gambling terminal—are vague and complex, and operators face only misdemeanor offenses, he noted. Law enforcement agencies could crack down on illegal casino operations if legislators would clean up the language of the law and raise gambling offenses back up to a felony level, but he expressed little optimism that lawmakers would do it unless pressured by citizens.

“You don’t usually think about criminals having strong lobbies in the state capitol, but gambling and pornography do,” he said.

In its business session, the Texans Against Gam-bling board voted to affiliate with the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, to disband the inactive Texans Against Gambling Educational Foundation and to elect as officers Chairman Tom Wilbanks of Mesquite, Vice Chair John Thielepape of Arlington, Treasurer Jack Ballou of Arlington and Secretary Debbie Irby of Dallas.

Posted: 4/13/06

Members join pastor on 1,000-mile walk

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

HOUSTON—Pastor Ed Hogan has lost about a dozen pounds since he started walking 10 miles a day, but he’s more interested in talking about what he has gained from the experience—a closer walk with God and church members.

Post-Christmas blues, the prospect of a new year’s challenges and reflections on A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson prompted him to begin a 1,000-mile pilgrimage during the 100 days leading to Easter.

At his invitation, church members joined him on the journey—either physically or by reading his daily reflections in a blog linked to the church’s website.

“I was feeling physically lethargic along with feeling spiritually lethargic,” said Hogan, pastor of Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston. He decided he needed the discipline of a literal daily walk with God.

“My first thought was that I’d walk 1,000 miles in the 40 days of Lent,” he recalled.

But after his wife convinced him 25 miles a day was unrealistic, he decided instead to devote 100 days to the 1,000-mile trek.

“I needed to walk, so I decided to make it a 14-week visual sermon illustration demonstrating our need to walk with God,” he said.

“The first 25 days were tough. From then on, it’s been great. … I feel good now—much better than I’ve felt in a long, long time.”

During the 14 weeks leading to Easter, Hogan preached on the ascent Psalms—prayers and hymns the Jews used in worship on a pilgrimage as they walked to the temple in Jerusalem, probably for Passover. The emphasis dovetailed with “The Path,” the church’s interactive Easter drama.

As he preached on Psalms 120 through 134 and began his 10-mile-a-day walks, he recorded his thoughts in a blog at www.xanga.com/ehogan.

“There’s a real discipline involved I didn’t understand when I started doing it,” he acknowledged.

But he discovered church members connected with him at a different level when they read his daily Internet postings.

“I think of myself as a really confessional preacher—that I’m out there in terms of being honest about myself—but I’ve had people say, ‘Now (after reading the blog) I feel like I’m really getting to know you,’” he said.

The daily entries took on a special poignancy April 4 when Hogan wrote about his mother-in-law’s death. He described the delicious brownies she made for her children and discussed honestly how her death affected his family.

“I realized yesterday that my children have been remarkably insulated from death. Because of my job, they know a lot about death; they just have not experienced it much firsthand,” he wrote. “You could see the questions etched in their eyes. Questions they dare not ask, lest they seem inappropriate: What will she look like? Why did that cousin cry so much? What happens at the graveside?

“Life is best learned ‘hands on’. This is one of their first tangible experiences with something they will encounter with increasing regularity.”

In addition to church members who joined their pastor in his walks vicariously through his blog, many joined him physically.

Hogan averaged 10 miles each day. With four worship services on Sunday, he typically had to cut his walk short then, but made up the shortfall on Fridays and Saturdays when his schedule is more flexible.

Typically, he walked five miles early in the morning and five miles in the evening, but he sometimes divided his walks into shorter segments to accommodate church members who accompanied him.

“A lot of church members have responded to the invitation to go walking with me. A few had me come to their neighborhoods. Most wanted to meet me at church,” he said, noting the time spent with members has proven invaluable.

“People let their guard down more when they are walking than when they’re sitting in a chair in a formal counseling session with a minister,” he said.

“Sometimes, they pick the occasion of our walk to open up about some pretty dramatic things. One man told me he felt God’s calling into ministry. Another told me he found out he had prostate cancer.”

Even so, Hogan believes some of the best conversations have been on the days when his only walking companion is God.

“The days alone are great days. It gives me a chance to think through issues and focus. It’s added a great focus to my prayer life. I’ll call people on my cell phone and pray with them. But a lot of time, frankly, I turn the phone off and spend time in quiet solitude and prayer,” he said.

By sticking to his 10-mile-a-day goal to reach the 1,000-mile mark, Hogan hopes his members learn a lesson about perseverance and “being in it for the long haul” as the church enters a building campaign.

Already, his example has inspired church members to make walking a daily discipline. Some use a half-mile trail at church for daily exercise and devotions, and some married couples have started walking and talking together.

“I just want to impress on our people the importance of that daily discipline and to get people walking with God,” Hogan said.

Posted: 4/13/06

Compromise immigration reform
legislation stalls in Senate

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WASHINGTON—Just one day after celebrating a “huge breakthrough,” the U.S. Senate rejected an immigration reform bill brought forward by leaders of both parties.

Legislation hailed as a compromise with broad support and brought forth by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., reportedly failed by nearly the same vote a Democratic-led bill did a day before. It garnered only 38 of the needed 60 affirmative votes.

The April 7 vote puts any Senate action regarding immigration reform at least two weeks back. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the judiciary committee would again commence work on the issue when it returned from an Easter break, but Frist would not commit to placing the issue back in front of the Senate because of a crowded legislative schedule.

Republicans and Democrats quickly blamed each other for turning immigration into a partisan issue.

During a Catholic prayer breakfast, President Bush again called for immigration reform.

“An immigration system that forces people into the shadows of our society, or leaves them prey to criminals is a system that needs to be changed,” he said. “I’m confident that we can change—change our immigration system in ways that secures our border, respects the rule of law, and, as importantly, upholds the decency of our country. As the Congress continues this debate, its members must remember we are a nation of immigrants. And immigration has helped restore our soul on a regular basis.”

Suzii Paynter, interim director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, said the Senate vote is the reason a commission should be formed to create larger consensus on immigration. That group should include leaders from the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as other stakeholders.

“This is an indication that we need something like a presidential immigration commission,” she said.

The CLC joined more than 50 evangelical groups to call for comprehensive immigration reform. Paynter said reform needs to be a balance of “security and solutions”—protecting the border and creating avenues for undocumented residents to become citizens.

The defeated bill divided undocumented workers into three groups and outlined a plan for each group to attain citizenship.

The House has passed a bill that specifically targeted enforcement of the country’s borders but did not deal with making any undocumented residents citizens.

Posted: 4/13/06

Christian Women’s Job Corps expands to Mexico

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico—Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas recently held the first Christian Women’s Job Corps training outside the United States.

In Piedras Negras, Mexico, WMU leaders taught 23 women how to conduct Christian Women’s Job Corps in their communities.

Women came from as far as Guada-lajara for the training.

Christine Hockin-Boyd, state Christian Women’s & Men’s Job Corps coordinator, said she was pleased by the turnout and is excited at the prospect of ministries starting across Mexico to teach life skills and vocational skills in a Christian context.

“We were crying as we left, because those women had captured our hearts,” she said. “Our hearts were opened, and those women were put in them. We’ve made a commitment to them. A prayer commitment, yes, but we also will be seeing some of them again in May as a group will go to Christian Women’s Job Corps El Paso for an on-site visit.”

The ministry was offered in seven more Texas sites in 2005 than 2004, and it served 171 more people, a 22 percent increase. Volunteers also recorded 84 more spiritual decisions in 2005 for a total 386.

The number of volunteers working at Christian Women’s & Men’s Job Corps also is up 53 percent. The number of mentors increased 29 percent.

The only warning sign for the ministry is a 19 percent dip in volunteer hours. Hockin-Boyd believes that number may be a reporting issue and may not accurately reflect what is happening around the state.

Hockin-Boyd is glad to see the growth but also recognizes the last statistic as a challenge.

The ministry can still grow, and she hopes to double the number of men’s sites to four in 2006.

“I am pleased for the growth we experienced in 2005,” Hockin-Boyd said. “I think 2006 will be even more promising.”

Posted: 4/13/06

Judas got a bum rap, scholars say

By Stacy Meichtry

Religion News Service

ROME (RNS)—Every great story deserves a great villain. For Christians who consider the Easter narrative the greatest ever told, no one in history quite matches the despicable deeds and evil nature of Judas Iscariot.

But questions of whether Judas deserves his foul reputation have become increasingly loud in recent years, with some calling for a historical makeover for the fallen disciple.

Not only has Judas become a character in Hollywood films sympathetically portraying him as a misunderstood revolutionary, he has benefited from a raft of scholarly research that aims to absolve him through close readings of the Gospel accounts and other early Christian texts.

Judas is even getting his own text. The National Geographic Society is unveiling a 4th century Gospel of Judas in a series airing on its National Geographic Channel. According to that gospel, Judas was fulfilling a divine plan by handing Christ over to his executioners.

As Christians observed Lent and prepared for Holy Week and Easter, Pope Benedict XVI seized upon a recent weekly audience to defend the traditional view of Judas, labeling him the “traitor apostle.”

But some scholars point to human nature’s tendency to demonize a foreign enemy, and they see Judas straddling the distinction between foreign and insider enmity.

“The major problem of the current time is how to deal with the other,” or the unfamiliar, said William Klassen, author of Judas: Betrayer or Friend of Jesus and a leading advocate for the rehabilitation of Judas. “Judas opens that up for us in a way that no other person in history does.”

Scholars like Klassen argue that Judas’ last name “Iscariot” indicates he was probably from the village of Kerioth in southern Judea, while the other apostles came from the northern region of Galilee.

Judas, therefore, was an outsider who found his way into Christ’s inner circle and who allegedly abused his position of privilege.

The unique bond between Christ and Judas is apparent in the earliest gospel accounts, including the Gospel of Mark, written around 70 A.D. In Mark, Judas identifies Christ to authorities with a kiss.

“He’s an intimate betrayer,” said Elaine Pagels, professor of early Christianity at Princeton University. “That’s what’s so troubling. Judas turned in his own teacher.”

Centuries after Christ’s death, however, historical accounts of Judas begin to deprive him of his insider status. Taking license with his first name, which literally means “Jew,” early Christian writers and medieval historians aimed to alienate Judas from the church’s founders by applying anti-Jewish stereotypes to him, some modern writers insist.

As centuries passed from the moment of Christ’s death, Judas began to acquire more pronounced Semitic features in Western art and literature. In the fourth-century writings of St. Augustine, early Christianity’s most influential theologian, Judas is presented as a distinctly Jewish foil to St. Peter, the founder of the church.

The more Christianity sought to distinguish itself from Judaism, in other words, the more Judas became distinctly Jewish, scholars like Klassen assert. The evil he represented, meanwhile, evolved from a question of personal sin to one of a foreign threat.

Posted: 4/13/06

Give it up for Lent:

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—For Ray Vickrey and Mike Clingenpeel, Easter doesn’t mean much without about 40 days of reflection and repentance before it.

Though the two men serve as pastors of congregations in different states—Vickrey at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas and Clingenpeel at River Road Church, Baptist in Richmond, Va.—they both have led their congregations in Lenten and holy week services this year.

Their decision to recognize Lent speaks to a larger Baptist community that, although not historically tied to the tradition, has taken to observing the holiday. And while it might be a confusing trend for some, for others, it’s more than just a fad.

Both Clingenpeel and Vickrey said that only through Lent can the full meaning of Easter emerge.

A growing number of Baptists find meaning in Lent

“In my opinion, the full impact of the Easter message takes affect only when you walk through the dark shadows of the cross,” Clingenpeel said. “It’s a penitent season, and the Lenten activities remind us that it’s a time for reflection and repentance.”

Royal Lane Baptist, which started celebrating Lent in the 1970s, scheduled Lenten services every week leading up to Easter, along with a Good Friday service focused on the sorrow and suffering of Christ.

“We dare not rush to Easter without pausing to look upon the suffering Savior,” Vickrey said.

Another Dallas congregation, Wilshire Baptist Church, celebrates Lent with a different emphasis in mind. Led by Pastor George Mason, people at Wilshire study the Lenten season as part of their adherence to the entire Christian calendar.

The 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, Lent comes from a Germanic root word meaning “spring.” The observance usually involves confession, fasting, prayer, meditation and giving.

Lent more commonly is celebrated in Catholic and other liturgical churches. Baptists, who trace their origins to protest movements that withdrew from the established Christian traditions, have looked upon such high-church vestiges with suspicion.

But in recent years, some Baptist congregations have turned to Lent and other liturgical traditions to recapture ancient Christian practices.

Andrew Daugherty, a Wilshire pastoral resident, said the church celebrates all holidays on the Christian calendar, including Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. It also follows a revised common lectionary—scheduled scriptural readings—during worship. This year, church members hung banners from the columns in the sanctuary to symbolize the “color and beauty of the church year.”

“This … uses the framework of the human life cycle to take on issues of the life cycle of faith,” Daugherty said. “Our goal is to use Lent as a time to do a refresher course on the basic teachings and practices of the Christian church across time. We will move through dedication and birth stories, confession and conversion, baptism, discipleship, death and resurrection.”

Terre Johnson, minister of music at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., said his church has celebrated Lent almost 50 years to focus on meaningful days besides Christmas and Easter.

“The thinking of our church is that we observe most of the Christian calendar since we are part of a larger Christian body,” he said. “We focus our minds on that.”

Clingenpeel hopes for the same focus. While River Road has been “a Baptist church since its inception,” he wants his church to join the “larger liturgical tradition” as well.

“It allows us, in a mystical sense, to worship with believers around the world,” Clingenpeel said. “We want to be a part of the Christian community that celebrates that tradition.”

Church members at Royal Lane take that mentality a step further. They display identical crosses and flowers on their front lawns during Holy Week and share breakfast together as a congregation—all to foster the spirit of community, Vickrey said.

Maundy Thursday services play a large role for Baptist churches that observe Lent. Wilshire, for instance, plans to use the service as a means to emphasize grace.

“Maundy Thursday is the most meaningful for me, and I think others would say the same,” Clingenpeel said. “It is a service of light and shadows. We read accounts of the Last Supper and Crucifixion. It allows members to enter into introspection and … to focus on the weight of sin and the cross.”

Clingenpeel thinks the number of Baptist churches that celebrate Lent will continue to increase.

“Some … churches have avoided it because they don’t want to be linked with something resembling Catholicism, but that doesn’t necessarily concern us,” Clingenpeel said. “We really like being linked with a larger community.”

Posted: 4/13/06

Missouri Baptists link with WorldconneX

By David Williams

WorldconneX

ROACH, Mo.—The Baptist General Convention of Missouri has entered into a three-year partnership with WorldconneX, a missions network Texas Baptists launched in 2004.

The state convention’s executive board approved the partnership, designed to encourage and help Missouri Baptist churches and their members personally engage in missions. The board also approved a three-year partnership with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“This opens the door for us to provide the same opportunities to Missouri Baptists that we already provide to Texas Baptists,” said Bill Tinsley, World-conneX leader.

Opportunities include development of affinity groups through which churches and institutions work together as they focus on specific people groups, nations, regions or missions approaches. Some Missouri Baptists already are involved in the Guatemala team WorldconneX developed during the past two years.

Other international missions opportunities also will be available through the partnership, Tinsley added.

“We are developing diplomatic connections in hard-to-reach parts of the world, and Missouri Baptists will be welcome to join alongside Texas Baptists as we move into those areas,” he said.

Missouri Baptist churches also will be eligible to take advantage of the “front-line sending services” being developed by WorldconneX to help churches send their own missions personnel. Those services include cross-cultural training, strategy consultation and ways for churches to handle insurance, annuity and international money transfers for people they send overseas.

WorldconneX also will provide New Realities conferences for clusters of BCGM churches. The conferences center on what Tinsley calls the seven new realities that have changed the world and missions in the 21st century.

In addition to working with churches, WorldconneX will help individual church members with short-term and long-term missions connections to fulfill God’s vision for their lives, Tinsley said.

Gary Snowden, missions mobilization team leader for the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, said the convention already has begun to benefit from its relationship with WorldconneX.

“WorldconneX facilitated our involvement with the Guatemala affinity group and a face-to-face meeting with the different entities and the leadership of the Guatemala Baptist Convention in Guatemala City in January,” Snowden said. “That, in turn, has led to the establishment of a three-year partnership agreement between the (Missouri convention) and the Guatemala Baptist Convention.”

WorldconneX staffer Carol Childress participated in Missouri Baptists’ recent annual meeting, leading a Bible study in one of the general sessions and guided a breakout session on new realities in missions.

“We anticipate that the relationship with WorldconneX will enable the churches affiliated with the (Missouri convention) to strengthen their direct involvement in missions at many levels,” Snowden said.

The partnership with Missouri Baptists fits well with the overall strategy of WorldconneX, Tinsley said.

“While WorldconneX focuses on services to Texas Baptists, it was created to relate to evangelical missions entites and others outside Texas,” Tinsley said. “From the outset, WorldconneX has recognized that while our primary base is Texas Baptists, we are not limited to Texas and not limited to Baptists.”

The WorldconneX board largely is composed of Texas Baptists but includes members from Virginia, Indiana and Florida.

As part of the partnership, the Missouri Baptists committed 10 percent of the world missions portion of their budget to WorldconneX. The actual amount of that funding is difficult to forecast, said Executive Director Jim Hill, because each Baptist General Convention of Missouri church chooses how to divide its Cooperative Program giving. Churches determine whether their national/world portion goes to Missouri Baptist world missions or to the Southern Baptist Convention or Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

“I would anticipate that our world missions initiatives will grow over the next few years,” Hill said.

The Missouri convention also will forward gifts from churches and individuals designated to WorldconneX, he added.

Posted: 4/13/06

On the Move

• Ed Adcock to First Church in Grand Prairie as minister of music from First Church in DeRitter, La.

• Charles Baker to Calvary Church in Abilene as music minister.

• Lashley Banks to Grayson Association as director of missions.

• Matthew Butter has resigned as pastor of Littleville Church in Hamilton.

• Elwin Collom to Hillcrest Church in Big Spring as pastor from First Church in Coahoma.

• Jason Crookham to Forestburg Church in Forestburg as youth minister.

• Gerald Dudley to Cowboy Heritage Church of Freestone County as pastor.

• Matthew Dunman to Coryell Community Church in Gatesville as youth minister.

• Colby Gardner to Leona Church in Leona as student minister.

• Nichole Hackney to Forestburg Church in Forestburg as children’s minister.

• Jim Heiligman to First Church in Moody as youth minister.

• Josh Holcombe to First Church in Three Rivers as minister of students.

• Matt Isabell to Calvary Church in Mexia as music minister, where he was interim.

• Tim Murkey to Oletha Church in Thornton as pastor.

• Eric Ream to First Church in Mexia as minister of youth/students.

• Jesus Reyes to Primera Iglesia in Rockdale as pastor, where he had been interim.

• Brian Roberson to Live Oak Church in Gatesville as minister of youth.

• Brian Robertson to First Church in Dawson as pastor.

• Richard Robinson to First Church in Kenedy as music minister, where he was interim.

• Dan Rogers to First Church in Purdon as pastor.

• Christine Roop to Shining Star Fellowship in Abilen as children’s minister.

• Charles Smith to First Church in Grand Prairie as minister of education, where he was minister of children.

• Johnathan Smith to Adamsville Church in Lampasas as youth minister.

• John Stewart to Henderson Street Church in Cleburne as worship leader/minister of education, where he was worship leader.

• Ben Tallcott to Central Church in Italy as minister of music.

• Dave Townes to Little Deer Creek in Chilton as pastor.

• Mark Wood to Field Street Church in Cleburne as minister of community missions/evangelism.